Effects of Interventions Involving Speech Output Technologies on Communication Outcomes for Individuals With Developmental Disabilities: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Purpose: This scoping review aimed to map the literature on the effects of interventions involving speech output technologies on communication outcomes for individuals with developmental disabilities other than autism spectrum disorder. Method: A scoping review methodology was used to limit bias in searching, selecting, coding, and synthesizing relevant intervention studies. This involved a multifaceted search for studies conducted between 1991 and March 2021 using various electronic databases, ancestry searches, and forward citation searches from selected articles. Studies had to meet stringent inclusion criteria. Each study was summarized in terms of authors, purpose, participants, design, speech output, outcomes, effectiveness, and quality appraisal. Results: Twenty-five single-case experimental design studies (88 participants) and one group design studies (62 participants) qualified for inclusion. Most of the participants had multiple diagnoses followed by a diagnosis of cerebral palsy and Down syndrome. Most studies focused on requesting behaviors and to a much lesser extent on syntactic structure and word identification. A dearth of high-quality studies was identified. Conclusions: Overall, there is a paucity of high-quality research investigating the effects of speech output technologies for children with developmental disabilities. Additionally, several directions for future research are posited. Supplemental Material: https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.20468928